


finding each other was inevitable, our paths crossing was destined

by inohc



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Oneshot, archie and toni friendship, barchie, choni, title from a poem i found online while looking for a title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inohc/pseuds/inohc
Summary: archie and toni friendship!! we've really only seen them interact once but i say they're great friends--toni gives archie advice on what to do about betty
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	finding each other was inevitable, our paths crossing was destined

Sitting alone in a booth in Pop’s, Archie Andrews had a lot more on his plate than the burger and fries he ordered. He couldn’t help but think back to what Betty had told him in the bunker.

_I love Jughead. And you love Veronica, don’t you?_

In all honesty, Archie wasn’t sure what to answer. He knew he cared for Veronica. He didn’t want to see her get hurt and he wanted to protect her. That was love, wasn’t it?

_Don’t you?_

Archie always thought he loved Veronica, but never in the way he loved Betty. He felt safe with Betty. Happy with her. Being with Veronica felt like work but being with Betty felt like… He couldn’t even explain what being with Betty felt like. Only that it made his heart beat really fast and it clouded his mind so much that all he could think about was them.

And Archie knew Betty felt the same way about him.

He saw it in her eyes when he played her the song he wrote.

He felt it in the way she held his hand in the bunker.

He felt it in the way she kissed him.

So here he is. Alone in a booth at Pop’s with a very big dilemma and no idea how to handle it. He was taken out of his thoughts when he heard the bell on the door chime, and looked over to see black leather boots entering the diner. He watched as Toni walked to the counter and greeted Pop Tate.

“The usual for me and Cheryl, Pop. And an extra cherry on the strawberry milkshake, please.” Archie heard her say.

“Coming right up!” Pop said in his usual, cheery voice.

Before Archie could even think, his mouth was moving and words were coming out. “Hey, Toni.”

“Oh hey, Archie, I didn’t see you there,” Toni said as she looked over he shoulder at the gloomy redheaded boy. “What’s up?”

“I actually wanted to ask you something.” If Archie had said that any quieter, Toni probably wouldn’t have heard him.

She walked over to his booth and slid into the seat. “Is this about Mr. Hernandez’s chemistry test?” Toni had been helping Archie study the week before. “It was pretty easy, mostly multiple choice. Make sure you know the difference between ionic and molecular compounds, though.”

Archie chuckled, “No it’s not about that, I’ll probably fail that test anyways. It’s something a little more _personal_.”

Toni shifted in her seat and leaned closer to Archie, waiting for him to continue.

Archie took her cue and carried on. “I need to talk to someone about something, and I can’t talk to Betty. Or Jughead. Or Veronica, and I’m scared of whatever advice Cheryl might give me.”

“So what I’m hearing is I’m your fifth choice?” Toni said only half joking.

“No, no,” Archie stammered. “Technically you’re my first choice if you think about it.”

“What’s going on, Andrews?” Toni just wanted him to get to his point.

“You and Cheryl have been together for a while, and I was wondering…” He hesitated, realizing that what he was about to say would expose him completely. “I was wondering if you’ve ever _felt_ anything for anyone besides Cheryl?”

Toni’s eyebrows furrowed together, as she took in what Archie was saying. “You mean, have I ever wanted to be with anyone other than Cheryl?”

Archie nodded.

Toni took a breath in and contemplated her next words. “There’s so little about my life, about my future, that I’m sure about. I’m not even sure about Highsmith College. But the one thing that I’ve always been sure of is Cheryl. Even when we broke up last year for, like, a week, I couldn’t bring myself to think about anyone else but her. Trust me I tried and it didn’t work because I know it’ll always just be her.” Toni could tell by Archie’s downcast expression that her answer wasn’t necessarily what he was hoping to hear.

And she wasn’t wrong. Archie would’ve felt better knowing that this was something that happened to all couples. That even Cheryl and Toni, Riverdale’s ‘it’ couple, had their doubts about their relationship.

“Are you _feeling_ things for someone other than Veronica? Maybe someone like Betty?” Toni asked and Archie felt blood rush to his head.

“How did—”

“You and Betty are inevitable,” Toni explained. “Everyone knows you guys are bound to happen, and I’m guessing it’s happening… now?”

“I think I’ve always been in love with Betty, but I just pushed down whatever I felt for her while I was with Veronica. And now it’s all coming up to the surface and…” Archie tried to find the right words. “Exploding everywhere.”

Toni hesitated as she took in Archie declaration of love. “I guess it’s good that you’re realizing this now, you know? Now you can handle it without people getting hurt.”

Archie felt a pang of guilt in his chest. “But what if people are already going to get hurt?”

“What do you mean?” Toni said, looking genuinely concerned.

Archie glanced around them, making sure no one was listening. “Betty and I kissed.”

Toni didn’t look fazed at all. “Yeah, in the music room, we all know about that—”

“Not just in the music room,” Archie took another breath in. “We kissed again, while we were practicing for the variety show.”

Now Toni looked fazed. “The variety show? Archie, that was almost two weeks ago. What have you and Betty been doing since?”

“We’ve met up a couple of times in the bunker—”

“The _sex_ bunker?”

“Yes, that bunker, but we haven’t _done_ anything like that,” Archie said quietly. “We almost did, when we kissed, but we stopped ourselves before the situation could get even worse.”

“So you just meet up in the bunker and…”

“Lie next to each other and hold hands.”

Toni looked at Archie sympathetically, “Oh, Archie, that’s even worse! It would’ve been better if you guys had sex but you just _hold hands_?”

“Yeah?” Archie was confused why that made things worse. Holding hands with Betty was just providing him with comfort. Surely it wasn’t worse than actually having sex with her? Or maybe it was. Archie thought about how nice Betty’s hand felt in his. How it felt like they were meant to be together just by how their hands fit together. Toni didn’t have to say anything more for Archie to understand what she meant. He and Betty didn’t just have a physical affair, but an emotional one too. It wasn’t just one impulsive kiss, it was two weeks of sneaking around and _holding hands_.

Toni could see the cogs in Archie’s brain turning and gave him a moment before saying, “Does Betty feel the same way?”

“I think so.” Archie thought again about what she had said in the bunker.

_I love Jughead. And you love Veronica, don’t you?_

“I know so,” he corrected himself. “She said tonight that what’s happening between us needs to stop. But I know she doesn’t really want it to. She just doesn’t want to hurt Jughead. Or Veronica.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Toni said, pointing out the obvious. “No matter what happens, Jughead and Veronica are going to get hurt. Your girlfriend and boyfriend cheating on you with the people you’ve been most insecure about your whole relationship. They’ll be crushed but it’ll hurt a little less if you tell them sooner. The more you drag this on, the more you lie to their faces, the more it’ll hurt when you tell them.”

Archie nodded, taking everything Toni was saying in. He never wanted to hurt Veronica, but he did. And he knows Toni is right. Jughead and Veronica need to know.

Before Archie could respond to her, Pop Tate’s voice rang through the diner. “Takeout for Toni, ready!”

Toni looked at Pop Tate and gave him a tight lipped smile. As she got up to get her and Cheryl’s dinner, she looked back down at Archie. “If there’s one thing I know about you, Andrews, is that you’re an impulsive person. Sometimes it makes you reckless but everything you do, you do because you think it’s the right thing. And if you kissed Betty—”

“—It’s because I thought it was the right thing to do.” And it was, Archie thought to himself. Kissing Betty felt _right_. And he knew what he needed to do. “Thank you, so much, Toni.”

“My pleasure to offer up some premium dating advice,” Toni smiled at him. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell Cheryl or Jughead or anyone else about this whole _ordeal_.”

Archie smiled back and thanked her. He figured when he first asked Toni for advice that she wouldn’t tell Jughead, considering she walked in the diner wearing a Pretty Poisons jacket and not a Serpent one. He hadn’t even thought about Cheryl, Riverdale’s human gossip column. But he trusted Toni since she’s never given him a reason not to.

He watched as Toni payed for her order and walked out the diner doors, the bell chiming again. He watched her secure the paper bag to her seat and climb onto her motorcycle. He watched as she rode away, away from Pop’s and on route to Thistlehouse. Archie couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Cheryl and Toni, and how perfect their relationship seemed. But then again, no relationship was perfect, and Archie was sure even Cheryl and Toni have had their bumps in the road. Archie wished he could simplify what was happening to him and Betty as a ‘bump in the road’, but he knew this was so much more.

So it was here, alone in a booth at Pop’s, that he realized Toni was right. Archie and Betty were inevitable. He knew that, Betty knew that, and he thinks deep down Jughead and Veronica knew it too.

Archie got up, left a twenty dollar bill on the table, and ran out of the diner without thanking Pop Tate for the meal like he normally does. He had one thing and one thing only on his mind.

_Betty_.

He sat down in the front seat of his jalopy and pulled out his phone. His thumb hesitated over her contact, but with a deep breath, he pressed Betty’s name and waited for her to pick up.

_“Hello?”_ Betty picked up almost immediately.

“Hi, Betty. Can you please meet me in the bunker again? I really need to talk to you.”

_“Arch, I told you today, we need to end—”_

“No, we don’t, Betty.” Archie said pleadingly, “Me and you, we’re going to happen. No matter what, we are bound to happen, so please meet me in the bunker in ten minutes so we can talk face to face.”

Archie waited for Betty to respond for what felt for an eternity before hearing, _“Okay, I’ll leave my house now.”_

Archie couldn’t help but smile at the way his heart beat sped up. Toni lit a fire under his ass and for the first time in three years, Archie was going to act for himself and fix the mistake he made when Betty first confessed her feelings on her doorstep that night of the dance sophomore year.

Archie’s regretted what he did that night, but now was his chance to fix it, and he was going to.

He was going to be with Betty Cooper.


End file.
